


Riot

by Haberdasher



Series: Twitch Plays Pokemon [36]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Twitch Plays Pokemon - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Twitch Plays Crystal, Twitch Plays Pokemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-03 12:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2851586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AJ's experience of one of the times that the stream went down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riot

It had been a long day for AJ.

In the past day, he’d spent hours skidding across the ice in an icy cave, stepped carefully around a gym filled with lava while fearing every second that the voices would make him jump in, gotten spun around by a whirlpool enough to make him dizzy, jumped over countless ledges with his legs aching on impact every time, and climbed up a waterfall while fervently praying that he wouldn’t be forced to fall off the edge.

There had been one bright spot, when he’d met up with Professor Elm again. Elm had congratulated him on getting all the badges in Johto and given him a Master Ball, a one-of-a-kind prototype that could catch any Pokemon in the world, saying that he trusted AJ to use it wisely. Even the inevitable bumping into the walls of the lab several times before escaping hadn’t been enough to dull AJ’s mood then. If Elm trusted him with something that valuable, it must mean that he believed that AJ could do great things. AJ had looked up to Professor Elm all his life, hoping that he could prove to the professor that he could be a good assistant one day, and now he was more than Elm’s assistant, so much more.

And the voices had grand plans for this Master Ball, listing off Suicune and Celebi and any number of legendary Pokemon as worthy targets for this wondrous tool. If he managed to catch one of these unique beasts mentioned in ancient stories passed on for generations, his name would go down in history. The world would never forget the name of AJ, tamer of legends.

And then he used the Master Ball on a Goldeen.

It wasn’t his fault, of course. It was the voices, always the voices. And even they didn’t seem terribly happy about it. But the fact remained that, whether they had intended it or not, he had wasted this unique, invaluable tool on a nigh-useless Pokemon that filled almost every lake and river and sea in Johto. Professor Elm had trusted him to do great things with the Master Ball, and in using it on such a common Pokemon, he had betrayed that trust.

It was all getting to be too much to bear.

AJ’s body hurt all over, and his eyelids felt heavier and heavier by the minute. But the voices wouldn’t let him stop moving. No, he had to keep trudging along to the Pokemon League. He hadn’t had more than a minute of rest for over a week now, and they seemed entirely willing to keep it that way.

He resisted every step they took, picturing himself standing in one place, desperately hoping for just one brief moment in which to catch his breath. And slowly, ever so slowly, his struggle began to pay off. His legs went from running to walking to crawling, and eventually they stopped moving altogether.

The instant he stopped moving, his legs gave out, and AJ fell to the ground.

He’d collapsed like this before, but usually it was because his Pokemon had all fainted, because he had nothing to protect him from his attackers. But his Feraligatr was still healthy, towering over him with a look of concern in his eyes.

The voices were quieter now. Not gone, never gone, but quieter.

_Riot riot riot anarchy riot up right riot Guys stop putting in commands riot riot riot Why is the stream down right riot riot_

And their control was gone now. No matter how many times they told him to get up and keep moving, AJ just kept lying on the ground, glad for a moment of relative peace and rest.

With their control gone, AJ was able to speak, his fatigue working to silence him more than the force that paralyzed him for the past week.

"Atta…" It was a nickname they had given him, back in Goldenrod, but it was short and recognizable and that’s what mattered. The Feraligatr crouched down, leaning over AJ’s head.

"I’m sorry… I can’t help you, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… You keep helping me, I wish I could help you, I’m sorry…” AJ’s vision started to blur, and it took him a second to realize that it wasn’t from exhaustion, but because he was tearing up.

Then another voice entered his head, one louder than the rest, and utterly unfamiliar.

_Don’t worry, AJ. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to help you. You can do it. Just keep fighting._

"Who…?"

_They call me Burrito. I don’t know what you would call me._

"Espeon? But you’re-"

_My powers work even when my body’s too weak to fight. I’ve tried to contact you before, but the other voices kept overpowering mine until now. Just rest, and know that we’re here for you._

AJ sighed and closed his eyes, wanting to ignore the world for a little while.

He wasn’t sure how long he was out, how long Feraligatr had had to defend his unconscious trainer from the wild Pokemon that surrounded him, but soon enough he felt himself getting off the ground. They made him move faster now, his movements as jerky and erratic and illogical as ever. The voice’s commands made him push his Feraligatr to the point of collapse, and he awoke after another fainting spell in Blackthorn Town, far from the Pokemon League, far from home.

But as he trekked down the ledges of the long road back to New Bark once more, AJ kept one thought in mind, one thing that made this long and terrible journey almost worth it.

The Pokemon on his team weren’t just there because the voices had managed to capture them and force them into fighting for their lives. They could have abandoned him at any point, left him alone in a strange and distant town, but they chose not to. They were there because they wanted to be.

They were there because they cared.


End file.
